Just over half of all adult Americans, 51 percent, are currently married, according to an analysis of U.S. census data by the Pew Research Center. The center predicts that, if current trends continue, the share of currently married adults will fall below half within a few years. In 1960, 72 percent of all adults 18 and older were married.

The analysis shows that, though the traditional marriage is giving way, other lifestyle forms – including cohabitation, single-person households and single parenthood – are growing. It found that the number of new marriages in the United States declined by 5 percent from 2009 to 2010.

It’s not just that folks aren’t getting married as much, it’s also that they’re questioning the entire institution. Thirty-nine percent of all adults and 44% of young people said they believe that marriage is “obsolete.” Twelve percent of unmarried adults said they do not want to get married, and another 27% expressed uncertainty.

Atlanta, GA

Maya Dusenbery is an Executive Director in charge of Editorial at Feministing. Maya has previously worked at NARAL Pro-Choice New York and the National Institute for Reproductive Health and was a fellow at Mother Jones magazine. She graduated with a B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. A Minnesota native, she currently lives, writes, edits, and bakes bread in Atlanta, Georgia.

Maya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Editorial.

Emma Morano is an Italian centenarian who, at 115, is the oldest living person in Europe. In a profile in the New York Timesyesterday, she credits her longevity to eating three raw eggs a day and never remarrying after an early divorce.

Ms. Morano has no doubts about how she made it this long: Her elixir for longevity consists of raw eggs, which she has been eating — three per day — since her teens when a doctor recommended them to counter anemia. Assuming she has been true to her word, Ms. Morano would have consumed around 100,000 eggs in her lifetime, give or take a thousand, cholesterol be damned.

She is ...

Emma Morano is an Italian centenarian who, at 115, is the oldest living person in Europe. In a profile in the New York Timesyesterday, she credits her longevity to eating three raw eggs a day and never ...

According to a new study, to be published in the American Sociological Review, the majority of young people in the US would ideally like to be in an egalitarian relationship in which both partners equally split work and family responsibilities.

In a survey experiment conducted with a nationally representative sample of unmarried, childless men and women between the ages of 18 and 32 in the United States, the researchers asked respondents how they would ideally like to structure their relationship with a future spouse or partner in terms of balancing work and family life.

The study finds that when the option is made available to them, the majority of respondents — regardless of gender or education level — opt for ...

According to a new study, to be published in the American Sociological Review, the majority of young people in the US would ideally like to be in an egalitarian relationship in which both partners equally split ...